Setup Squid3 Proxy Server on Debian

Installation

Install Squid3 and Apache tools.

apt-get install squid3 apache2-utils

We will use Apache htpasswd to generate a password. If you don't want to install additional packages, you can use perl to generate your password.

Backup and replace Squid3 Configuration

Backup current Squid3 settings.

cp /etc/squid3/squid.conf /etc/squid3/squid.conf.bak

Open and replace the content in /etc/squid3/squid.conf with following:

http_port 3128

auth_param basic program /usr/lib/squid3/basic_ncsa_auth /etc/squid3/.passwd
auth_param basic children 1
auth_param basic credentialsttl 1 minute
auth_param basic casesensitive off

acl auth proxy_auth REQUIRED
acl localhost src 127.0.0.0/8

http_access allow auth
http_access allow localhost
http_access deny all

cache deny all

forwarded_for delete
request_header_access Via deny all

Notes: The default port for Squid is 3128, change it to another port for better security purposes.

Create Squid3 User

Create a new user to login to the Squid3 server.

htpasswd -c /etc/squid3/.passwd YOUR_USER_NAME

If you do not have Apache tool installed, use perl to create your authentication.

echo -e "YOUR_USERNAME:`perl -le 'print crypt("YOUR_PASSWORD","salt")'`" > /etc/squid3/.passwd

Restart your Squid3 service, and the job is done.

/etc/init.d/squid3 restart